'17 Ford "No tree stump is safe"

[jgillott]

That is an excellent point. The '97 gives me all kinds of feedback and even the '06 gives a fair amount for a drive by wire system.

But I feel disconnected driving the newer ones.

I could talk hours on this. But in a nutshell, I think that we learned to be better drivers learning on the equipment we did.

The first larger truck I drove was a Ford 8000 cabover with a 3208 CAT ,strait 5-Speed, air brakes, and a steering wheel the size of a smart car. It was just awful by today's standards, but somehow it did what you wanted it to. But, we had to drive it to make it work.

 

[TFucili]

I could talk hours on this. But in a nutshell, I think that we learned to be better drivers learning on the equipment we did.

BINGO! For better or worse, I consider myself a "driver", and I want to tell the machine what to do. That connected feel is very important to me, and my driving experience, and it is fading away with these rolling computers.

 

[NIsaacs]

Ever watch an old, heavily loaded R Model Mack with a juiced Maxidyne pull out and twist like a dog lifting its leg?

Yes, ya get goosebumps when you can see daylight under the left front tire:-laf an aluminum frame for ya...My old R-Model had a double steel frame and a Thermodyne 238 turned up to run with the company trucks that had the 300 Maxidyne, it was pretty solid on the front axle.

The B-model that I learned on was like Mike's truck

Nick

 

[mwilson]

I can make my '06 lug down and pop up over hills at 1500 rpm or lower when loaded. I know many on here say you shouldn't do that, etc....BUT that's why I run Diesels. If I wanted to listen to something screaming away at 3300 rpm on every hill I'd buy a gasser. I LET UP on the pedal just a teeny bit to keep it from shifting and dropping a couple of gears, I make it work and take advantage of the torque That is what it is built to do. I would be irate at the least if the trucks electronics would not let me do that.

These "B" series are governed at 2100 to 2500 or so in a piece of equipment or a medium duty truck, I figure that mine should not be turned much faster than that.

After spending some of my youth driving a 6500 series GMC tandem axle dump truck powered by a 427 (governor unhooked) coupled to a 5 and a 4 a high revving gasser noise is not what I want to hear when towing the trailer.

 

[B.G. Smith]

No tree stump safe??!! whats that mean? furds gonna wee/wee on them??!!

I think that's referring to an old Ford commercial where they attempted to pull or did pull a stump out of the ground. bg

 

[Mikey-KE7LBB]

Little did I know what it actually takes to pull out a stump... At first, I was gonna use my 4 wheeler, but I couldn't hook my chain to anything... I used the '09 instead and it took several bumps to rip it out of the ground!!

What I didn't know was that I yanked apart a 10" root from a runner instead of just something I thought was easy to take care of with a wheelbarrow and a shovel!!

If I had an auto and just pulled until it was out of of the ground, I'd have a lot more holes to fill in later lol!!

I wish I could say that I used my 1st gen and just let out the clutch, but I will admit that I used the '09 instead and did exactly that!!

 

[Larry Willard]

I could talk hours on this. But in a nutshell, I think that we learned to be better drivers learning on the equipment we did.

The first larger truck I drove was a Ford 8000 cabover with a 3208 CAT ,strait 5-Speed, air brakes, and a steering wheel the size of a smart car. It was just awful by today's standards, but somehow it did what you wanted it to. But, we had to drive it to make it work.

I loved those old Ford cabovers, way better than the Louisville ones that replaced them.
Larry

 

[GrantP]

Ever watch an old, heavily loaded R Model Mack with a juiced Maxidyne pull out and twist like a dog lifting its leg?

Nope, but I'd love to see a brand new 4th gen do it!

My point was simply that while the hp/tq numbers have gone through the roof over the years the drivetrains have not kept up. Bless Ram for still offering a manual trans but look how much lower that engine combo is rated. The fact that software is used to derate engines between shifts is just wrong in my opinion. What's the cost for a transmission that can handle 1000 lbs of torque without torque management? I don't know, but give me the option to buy it and actually use all of the power. Off my soapbox now.